Papers by Richard Barbrook
Intellect Books, Oct 15, 2019
Science As Culture, 2011
At the end of the twentieth century, the long predicted convergence of the media, computing, and ... more At the end of the twentieth century, the long predicted convergence of the media, computing, and telecommunications into hypermedia is finally happening. Once again, capitalism's relentless drive to diversify and intensify the creative powers of human labour is on the ...
First Monday, 2005
This paper is included in the First Monday Special Issue #3: Internet banking, e-money, and Inter... more This paper is included in the First Monday Special Issue #3: Internet banking, e-money, and Internet gift economies, published in December 2005. Special Issue editor Mark A. Fox asked authors to submit additional comments regarding their articles. How has the hi-tech gift economy evolved since 1998, when the paper was written? This article was a product of its time. When I originally wrote The Hi-Tech Gift Economy, the Net was still a novelty for most people even in the developed world. Nearly 8 years later, using this technology is no longer something special. This means that it is impossible to understand my article without remembering the bizarre moment in the late-1990s when so many pundits believed that the Net had almost magical powers. Led by Wired, dotcom boosters were claiming that the Net was creating the free market only found up to then in neo-classical economics textbooks. Inspired by post-modernist gurus, new media activists were convinced that humanity would soon libe...
Communicating for Development, 2002
During the Sixties, the New Left created a new form of radical politics: anarchocommunism. Above ... more During the Sixties, the New Left created a new form of radical politics: anarchocommunism. Above all, the Situationists and similar groups believed that the tribal gift economy proved that individuals could successfully live together without needing either the state or the market. From May 1968 to the late 1990s, this utopian vision of anarcho-communism has inspired community media and DIY culture activists. Within the universities, the gift economy already was the primary method of socialising labour. From its earliest days, the technical structure and social mores of the Net has ignored intellectual property. Although the system has expanded far beyond the university, the self-interest of Net users perpetuates this hi-tech gift economy. As an everyday activity, users circulate free information as e-mail, on listservers, in newsgroups, within on-line conferences and through websites. As shown by the Apache and Linux programs, the hi-tech gift economy is even at the forefront of software development. Contrary to the purist vision of the New Left, anarcho-communism on the Net can only exist in a compromised form. Moneycommodity and gift relations are not just in conflict with each other, but also co-exist in symbiosis. The 'New Economy' of cyberspace is an advanced form of social democracy.
I was a founding member of the Cybersalon team. We were based at the ICA and run monthly events f... more I was a founding member of the Cybersalon team. We were based at the ICA and run monthly events from 1999 to 2003. Genesis. In March 1960 J.C.R. Licklider envisioned a network of computers connected together where human and machine would work together in intimate association. He prophesised that this era would be intellectually the most creative and exiting in the history of mankind. We are living in this time. Our group is a collective of people emerging from the human/computer interface who are engaged in digital practices and theories. As artists, practitioners and academics we have joined together to create the Cybersalon: live gatherings in the image of the new digital medium of the Net
Explorations in Media Ecology, 2006
In the modern world, our understanding of the present is often shaped by science fiction fantasie... more In the modern world, our understanding of the present is often shaped by science fiction fantasies about what is to come. Ironically, the most influential of these visions of the future are already decades old. We are already living in the times when they were supposed to have come true. In this article, the author analyses the origins and evolution of the imaginary future of artificial intelligence in the 1950s and 1960s. By showing that the future is what it used to be, he argues that it is time for us to invent new futures. UP AND COMING IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM On June 1, 2005, Honda proudly announced that its Asimo robot would soon be taking pride of place inside the Tomorrowland exhibit at the Disneyland amusement park in California. Nearly 2 meters tall, this shiny white machine was designed to look and behave like a human being. With its arms, Asimo could pick up objects and flick switches. Using its legs, the robot was able to walk across most types of terrain and even climb stairs. Equipped with visual sensors, Asimo
During the Sixties, the New Left created a new form of radical politics: anarcho-communism. Above... more During the Sixties, the New Left created a new form of radical politics: anarcho-communism. Above all, the Situationists and similar groups believed that the tribal gift economy proved that individuals could successfully live together without needing either the state or the market. From May 1968 to the late Nineties, this utopian vision of anarchocommunism has inspired community media and DIY culture activists. Within the universities, the gift economy already was the primary method of socialising labour. From its earliest days, the technical structure and social mores of the Net has ignored intellectual property. Although the system has expanded far beyond the university, the self-interest of Net users perpetuates this hi-tech gift economy. As an everyday activity, users circulate free information as e-mail, on listservs, in newsgroups, within on-line conferences and through Web sites. As shown by the Apache and Linux programs, the hi-tech gift economy is even at the forefront of s...
Fifty international contributors from various arts fields reflect on the meaning of the avant gar... more Fifty international contributors from various arts fields reflect on the meaning of the avant garde today.
Hors Collection, Mar 1, 2000
Winner of the MEA's 2008 Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ec... more Winner of the MEA's 2008 Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology.'A compelling, authoritative, and painstakingly documented narrative, Imaginary Futures traces the emergence of the computer era in the context of desperately competing ideologies, economics, and empires. This is a work of passionate and persuasive scholarship by a contemporary social theorist at the top of his game.'Douglas Rushkoff, author, Coercion, Media Virus, Get Back in the Box.'Imaginary Futures gives insight into how the dominant utopias of today were shaped in the time of the Cold War and served the ideological needs of the elites. While the Cold War West had a much better present, it was the Soviet East which had a vision of the future. The invention of a Western utopia became an important factor in the struggle for global power.'Boris Kagarlitsky, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Comparative Political Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences -- The future is now--Richard Barbrook argues that, at the height of the Cold War, the Americans invented a truly revolutionary tool: the Internet. Yet, for all of its libertarian potential, hi-tech science soon became a tool of geopolitical dominance. The rest of the world was expected to follow America's path into the networked future. Today, we're still told that the Net is creating the information society. Barbrook shows how we can reclaim its revolutionary purpose: how the DIY ethic of the internet can help people shape information technologies in their own interest and reinvent their own, improved visions of the future.
Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron’s The Californian Ideology, originally published in 1995 by Mut... more Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron’s The Californian Ideology, originally published in 1995 by Mute magazine and the nettime mailinglist, is the iconic text of the first wave of Net criticism. The internet might have fundamentally changed in the last two decades, but their demolition of the neoliberal orthodoxies of Silicon Valley remains shocking and provocative. They question the cult of the dot-com entrepreneur, challenging the theory of technological determinism and refuting the myths of American history. Denounced as the work of ‘looney lefties’ by Silicon Valley’s boosters when it first appeared, The Californian Ideology has since been vindicated by the corporate take-over of the Net and the exposure of the NSA’s mass surveillance programmes. Published in 1999 at the peak of the dot-com bubble, Richard Barbrook’s Cyber-Communism offers an alternative vision of the shape of things to come, inspired by Marshall McLuhan’s paradoxical ‘thought probes’. With the Californian Ideology...
The liberty of the individual the liberty of the nation the liberty of the party the liberty of t... more The liberty of the individual the liberty of the nation the liberty of the party the liberty of the many parties the liberty of the president the liberty of the cooperative the liberty of the corporation the liberty of the regulators.
London: Openmute, 2006
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. To view a co... more This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit <creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5> or send a letter to Creative Commons,
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Papers by Richard Barbrook